Antigone

Sophocles · 496–406 BCE · Greece

Originally Ἀντιγόνη (Ancient Greek)

Why it matters

A young woman buries her traitor brother against the king's decree, choosing divine law over state law and death over obedience. The original drama of conscience versus power, still the reference point for every argument about civil disobedience.

At a glance

Brief and direct, though its central moral debate is conducted in dense formal speeches.